The rich history of GECI dates back to the 60´s, when a young entrepreneur called Manuel Jimenez Serrano arrived in Cádiz for a new adventure.

He soon got a job at the Rota Naval Base where he developed his career achieving a laudable position in charge of the maintenance of the American base.

Passionate about technology and business in 1983 he set up business in El Puerto de Santa María, the town where he founded his own company and where more than 60 years later from his arrival GECI would become the major business group that now enjoys international fame and recognition.

The Beginning The Beginning
Industrial USA Standard Construction Supplies Industrial USA Standard Construction Supplies
Time to fly Time to fly
Let´s go Global Let´s go Global
A new discipline A new discipline
Pioneering Business Processes Pioneering Business Processes
In-house capabilities In-house capabilities
Aerospace New-co Activity Spin-off Aerospace New-co Activity Spin-off
Long term family-business focus Long term family-business focus
Different approach to Aviation Chemicals Different approach to Aviation Chemicals
R&D Investment R&D Investment
Major Leap Forward Major Leap Forward
Next Generation Family Enterprise Next Generation Family Enterprise

The Beginning

1983 – Company Start-up

The initiation of our company started with the logistics transportation of construction material. A personalised service conforming to our military customers offering planning, implementing and controlling procedures for the efficient and effective transportation and storage of goods from the point of origin to the required point of need.

Industrial USA Standard Construction Supplies

1985 – Industrial USA Standard Construction Supplies

Once having a strong foothold on logistics and transportation we started to supply materials to construction companies. Our construction supplies specialised on USA standards for Military bases. With USA having special interest in Spain by its position in the Mediterranean as a shutoff valve, and first transatlantic scale there was a vast investment on military bases infrastructure.

Time to fly

1989 – Aircraft Spare Parts

Passionate about aviation and aircrafts, once awarded a contract with the Spanish Airforce we began to also focus on aircraft spare parts. The first contract of spare parts was for the P3 Orion aircraft. The Spanish Airforce replaced the HU-16B Albatros by the P-3A in the late 70´s, with a total of 7 units operated by a mix air force / navy crew In Jerez as their home base

Let´s go Global

1991 – International Expansion

Eager to explore and quest new markets, our first International expansion of GECI outside of Spain was in Latin America. A long historical relationship between Spain and Latin America made sense as a first international expansion, reducing the entry barriers taking into consideration the same spoken language and culture. Our first exposure was through the establishment of a local office in the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

A new discipline

1992 – Air Navigation Activity

With the continuous strategy to diversify, a passion for aviation and a continues growth on air traffic, we invested on CNS-ATM integration and repair services. The airspace was getting more and more congested with aircrafts with a further demand on IFR and aircraft separation safety. Our first activity was with AENA, when we got awarded a 3-year master contract for the CNS-ATM systems components repair.

Pioneering Business Processes

1994 – Outsourcing for Automotive Industry Sector

In the 90´s to increase flexibility and creativity a trend for large organizations was to develop a new strategy in order to focus on their core business. Envisioning this new trend, our company identified the noncritical processes of manufacturing entities and commenced to provide outsourcing services. Our outsourcing activity commenced through a contract with Ford Motor Company.

In-house capabilities

1996 – Aircraft Avionics Repair

We acquired Tecno Soluciones S.L., a company specialised on electronics and aircraft avionics repair. Meeting our business plan for using internal assets and employees to provide in-house services to our clients we invested on the know-how to repair aircraft avionics. Our first contract on avionics repairs was with the Spanish Airforce. The acquisitions also allowed us to have the ability to repair ground navigation equipment.

Aerospace New-co Activity Spin-off

2000 – MRO and Aircraft Operations Demerging

With a continuous strategy on specialisation a new company was created by demerging the aerospace activity. The new company, at the time called GECI Levante S.A., now GECI Aerospace, would focus on the civil/military MRO and Aircraft operator clients. Ownership by shareholding is provided to its executive directors.

Long term family-business focus

2003 – Incorporation of Marissa Jiménez

Embracing a Business Degree with a mayor in Finance by the American University of Paris and experience within Ford France HQ treasure department Marissa Jimenez joins the company in the Finance department.  Our Founder and former CEO overviews the value of the family business ownership and financial management experience in a company expansion period.

Different approach to Aviation Chemicals

2005 – Joint Venture with Iberia Airlines

Our Aerospace division company established a joint venture with Iberia Airlines. The new company is created to provide aviation chemical solutions to MRO and Airlines were customers can outsource the risks expiration dates, stock, and consume as you go deliveries. A completely new approach to the market that allows operators and MRO´s to concentrate on its core business applying a customer orientation through the experience of Iberia Airlines.

R&D Investment

2005 – Airfield lighting systems

Passionate about technology and with our experience in the airports sector as a system integrator it only made sense to invest on R&D for a competitive strategy and value chain. Our first R&D commence with airfield lighting system where we started manufacturing Constant Current Regulators (CCR) and the Control Monitoring System (CMS) following ICAO and FAA standards.

Major Leap Forward

2006 – New HQ Installation and Quality Management

To keep evolving, due to our growth and expansion it was time relocate our headquarters and rise our quality standards. We moved our Headquarters to an aeronautical/automotive Industrial Park led by Airbus which fed us with an uninhibited expansion and Corporate Services consolidation besides new state of the art facilities. Our values “to be better”, we increased our quality procedures to ES9100.

Next Generation Family Enterprise

2007 – Incorporation of Daniel Jimenez

With an academic background on Industrial Engineering plus two masters (one in Business Administration and the other on Technology) and a career in the telecommunications industry, Daniel Jimenez officially joins the company as Project Manager. Family ownership and management continues to be the focal strategy prioritising on emotional capital and integrity.